


Catch and Release

by Themanofmanyhats



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-01-15 16:15:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12324474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Themanofmanyhats/pseuds/Themanofmanyhats
Summary: The arrows rain down a little faster and the Blue Spirit finds himself on the other side of Pohuai Stronghold. Zuko is trapped in more ways than one.





	1. The Capture

_Chapter One:  
_ **The Capture**

* * *

He wanted to save him. Aang really did. Even after throwing off that mask and revealing that his savior had been none other than Prince Zuko, Aang would have done it.

If it had all gone a little bit slower, if the arrows hadn't been hitting the dirt around them like raindrops; then he could have done it. But an arrow split through the air and pinned Zuko down like the archers had done to Aang in the swamp, but instead of through clothes it pierced the flesh of Zuko's leg. Even unconscious, he winced as he inhaled.

Aang had to make a decision, and as much as he hated leaving Zuko undefended, he couldn't imagine himself pulling that arrow out of his calf and carrying him into the treeline. Not without being riddled by those archers, at least. Aang made a decision, and as he ran off into the woods, alone, he also made a promise:

"I'll come back for you."

* * *

When Zuko came to, he wished he could be knocked unconscious again. His head felt like it were full of sand, heavy and rough with little space for actual thoughts. He couldn't move his hands from behind his back and any sound that reached his ears seemed to have to pass through a layer of cotton to get there. Worst of all was the pain in his left leg, which pierced through his calf and shot all the way up through his spine. Trying to put more weight onto the leg made him hiss out of his teeth.

"Looks like you're finally awake," a voice jeered from above him, " _Prince_ Zuko."

Disgust coiled in his stomach. Zuko really just wanted to spit in the direction of Zhao's voice but he wasn't sure he should waste the energy.

He blinked vision back into his eyes so he could at least face the brute. The room he was in was small, darkly lit, and Zhao stood in the middle of it.

_Why is he here? Where am I?_ He asked, but his head was still too hazy to give any answers.

Even with trouble focusing, he knew that Zhao was greatly satisfied with the situation, if his pompous grin was anything to go by.

"I'd like to be kind and say I never expected this from you," he said in mock civility, shaking his head, "Betraying your country, helping the enemy. Sadly, you turning traitor was hardly surprising."

" _I am not a traitor_." Zuko managed to rasp.

"Oh, then breaking into a military stronghold, freeing the Avatar and ripping ultimate victory from your country's hands is something any loyal Fire Nation citizen would do, isn't it? Really, Zuko, I didn't think you were quite so desperate."

Zhao matched his stare and the rage in his chest flared.

"You and I both know that this was nothing but a selfish attempt by a disgrace of a prince to try and regain his 'honor'. Like you had any in the first place." He scoffed and looked away as if Zuko were beneath his notice. "Although it doesn't really matter what we think. We just have to wait for what the Firelord has to say about this."

Zuko froze. The anger in his chest started to drown in half thought-out fear because memories of last night had started to appear from the haze and  _No, this wasn't supposed to happen, how could he let this happen, what would he think -_

"A hawk is already on its way and I'm sure the Firelord will be quite, ah... eager, to write back. Though I think I can already imagine his answer."

Zhao laughed, setting Zuko's blood boiling, but jolts of fear still coursed through his heart. His father would understand. He had to.  _He had to._

In the meantime, Zuko could see that the admiral was getting too much enjoyment out of his misery. He faced Zhao, cruel smile still intact, and blew a plume of fire straight into his face. He dodged, but Zuko managed to enjoy the look of surprise on Zhao's face for a moment, before he stepped forward and sent a kick straight into his stomach. The force shot stars into his eyes.

"What ever happened to being honorable in defeat?" Zhao said, voice growing farther away. " _Pathetic_."

The dots wouldn't disappear from his eyes, no matter how many times he blinked. They started to grow larger and larger instead, until they swallowed his vision entirely, and Zuko was unconscious again.

* * *

He's alone the next time he woke up, and a degree more clear-headed, but that wasn''t much of a consolation. Being able to take stock of his situation wasn't great for his nerves.

The room he was in was, in fact, a cell; a square concrete box with an iron door, completely devoid of everything except the hook and chain that kept his hands at his back. The only light source came from the candlelight outside which crawled in between the grates on the door. The chain not only kept his hands behind him, but was also too short to let him stand.

Searing pain still poured from his leg. He realized he was still wearing the black suit he'd worn to free the Avatar, and the reminder of that night made him bang his head against the wall.

This was all the Avatar's fault. If he just hadn't gotten himself caught then he wouldn't have had to free him and he wouldn't have ended up in a  _jail cell._

The suit had been ripped off at the left knee, the calf now wrapped in stained bandage. From how the injury stung, it had been a rush job with little care put into it other than to stop the bleeding.

The more he saw, the more he seethed. He tried to focus on that anger because it at least kept him from worrying about what he'd gotten himself into or thinking up desperate plans of escape.

He could… melt the chain? And then what, hope the door was unlocked? Not to mention that he'd probably just faint again if he tried to walk.

Maybe he could try and burn Zhao's face again. He felt some sick satisfaction at the thought, but it quickly turned to plain sick in his stomach. No, he couldn't, and it probably wouldn't have helped anyway, not if there were guards outside ready to take Zhao's place.

A deep breath coaxed warmth into him. Zuko decided to try his luck with the chain, so at the very least he'd have his hands in use. He was stopped short when the door groaned open.

"Before you start thinking of escape, perhaps you'd like to see what flew in on the latest hawk."

The voice grated his ears. "Zhao, release me this instant! You have no right to keep me here."

"Oh, I think I have all the right in the world." Zhao held a scroll up to his face and the dizziness from before started to come back. "I'd hope you'd recognize your own father's seal. This is his response to what I told him about your little stunt with the Avatar. Perhaps you'd like to hear the highlights?"

The answer was no, he doesn't want to hear it because even though he'd long for word from his father for years, he'd really rather it be about anything other than  _this_.

Zhao cleared his throat and began anyway. "'Admiral Zhao, my congratulations on your capture of an enemy of the Fire Nation.'"

Zuko stiffened. That was all he needed to hear. It felt like his grave was being dug.

He continued. "'His crimes violate both the terms of his banishment and the laws of our nation, and will be treated as high treason. Be it understood that he is no longer considered a son of the royal family and that the traitor's birthright is unconditionally revoked, with no possibility of reversal.' Ah, and here's my favourite line: 'The only place in our nation for that traitor is in a cell, awaiting sentencing. Send him and wash your hands of this filth, so you may continue your hunt for the Avatar.'"

Zhao glowered down on him, enjoying how every word seemed to feel like a stab in Zuko's gut.

His father had called him a traitor. He might have been a disgrace or a weakling or a banished prince but he'd never been a  _traitor._  He'd had to do it, he'd had to free the Avatar, he'd did it for  _him,_ didn't he want him  _back_  -

He searched for his voice, and for something to say, but all that came out was a quiet, horribly frail, "No."

"No?" Zhao questioned, before he burst into roaring laughter. "Did you really think there was ever a chance for you? Did you really think your father actually wanted you back? You're more of a naive fool than I ever imagined." His voice turned into sharp-edged disgust with the last sentence. "It was clear from that day three years ago that you were nothing but a disgrace, and the hunt for the Avatar was a wild goose chase to keep you away from the nation. I think your father regretted not just ending it all that day. You were never meant to go home."

"No. My father had to banish me because I disgraced myself, but he gave me a chance to come back home."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night,  _Prince_  Zuko." Zhao jeered. "But none of that matters now. Now that you're a traitor, you've managed to destroy whatever chance you had before. Look on the bright side though; you finally get to go home. And if you can't recall," There was nothing but cruelty shining in his eyes. "The sentence for treason, is  _death_."

Zuko was shaking, whether from anger, fear or despair, he didn't know, but Zhao must have found all three amusing because he broke into laughter again.

Choosing anger, Zuko took in a breath, ready to burn that damned smile off his face. Zhao must have noticed, because he stepped forward, laid an iron-clad boot over his bandaged leg and pressed, down,  _hard_. Zuko's mouth hung open, unable to breathe, knowing that if he took in a breath, he would regurgitate it as a scream.

He could barely hear over the ringing in his ears. "Oh dear, I hope that leg of yours doesn't get infected. It would be a shame if you expired before you finally got to see home."

When the pressure finally ceased after what felt like an eternity, Zuko felt angrier than he'd ever been before. He also felt like crying, but he chose to ignore that. It all came in between bouts of pain, and he put up little fight when darkness seeped into his eyes and began to drag him into unconsciousness once more.


	2. The Rescue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, time to get this started up again! Hope you all enjoy!

_Chapter Two:  
_ **The Rescue**

* * *

 

“ _You, what!?”_

Aang smiled timidly at Sokka’s screech. “I kinda got captured…”

Sokka kept staring at him with some mixture of disbelief and disgust, but hey, it got him to stop complaining about the frogs.

“How could you be so careless!” Katara said, more worried than angry.

“I _was_ careful!” Aang said. “But there were these archers -”

“Archers!” Sokka wailed.

“Yeah, and they pinned down my clothes so I couldn’t move. They took me to a fortress and locked me up there -”

“Fortress!”

“I think they were going to take me to the Fire Nation. And Zhao was there, too.”

“Zhao, too?” Sokka groaned. “Katara, we are never going to let Aang out on his own again. Imagine what would have happened if he couldn’t escape!”

“That’s the thing. I didn’t escape; I was rescued.”

“Rescued?” Katara said. “By who? Where are they?”

Aang twiddled his thumbs nervously. “Yeah, about that… He was wearing this creepy blue mask the entire time - almost gave me a heart attack when he first came in, swinging his swords and everything - and then when we almost got away, the archers shot the mask and knocked him out. I wanted to carry him back but there were too many arrows and - and I had to leave him.” His face turned downcast. “I have to go back and help him.”

Sokka was silent for a moment, as if about to argue, before he gave a defeated sigh. “A rescue for a rescue. I guess it's only fair.”

Katara nodded, before adding. “So you didn’t get to see his face.”

“Actually, I took off the mask when he was unconscious and…” He hesitated.  “Look, you might not like who he is, but you guys have to promise me you’ll help. Or at least don’t try to stop me from trying to rescue him.”

“Who could it be? Prince Zuko?” Sokka scoffed. When Aang just looked at him guiltily, Sokka’s face went slack. “You’re kidding. Right?”

Katara’s face was aghast. “Prince Zuko _rescued_ you?”

“And now we have to rescue him.”

“Woah, woah, hold on.” Sokka’s mental gears had ground to a halt. “You do realize that ‘Zuko’ and ‘rescue’ do not go together, _at all_.”

“Why would he try and rescue you?”

“To take the glory of capturing Aang for himself, duh!” Sokka shouted, before turning to Aang, hands pressed together and trying to act as rational as possible. “Look, Aang, I know you’re all big on the ‘there’s good in everybody’ thing but it’s Prince Zuko we’re talking about. You know, the guy who crashed into our village, burned down Kyoshi Island, and sent pirates to kidnap us. Not a good guy.”

“It’s my fault Zuko got captured. If I hadn’t gotten caught he wouldn’t be in this mess.”

Sokka’s eye twitched. “Aang, he’s Fire Nation, Zhao’s Fire Nation, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

“But don’t you remember Roku’s Temple? I don’t think Zhao’s going to be kind to him just because they’re both from the Fire Nation.” Aang pleaded. “Look, I know you don’t like him but he’s not a bad guy. He just ended up on the wrong side of the war.”

They stared each other down before Katara huffed and pulled them apart.

“You’re right, Aang. I’ll help.” Here, Aang cheered and whooped while Sokka’s jaw dropped in disbelief. “I don’t like it, but I’m not about to owe any debts to Prince Zuko.”

They both turned. “Sokka?

“We’re going to regret this and when we do, don’t come crying back to ol’ Sokka because he already told you this was gonna to happen!” He fumed, but scooched in closer to their little circle. “So what’s the plan? We can’t exactly just break into a Fire Nation stronghold.”

“No, we can’t. I don’t think stealth is an option anymore now that they’re on high alert.”

“And we’ll have to make sure we’re out of range of those archers.” Katara said.

“Which leaves us with what?”

Even with the seemingly mountain of a task in front of them, Aang couldn’t help but grin. It was good to have everyone on his side again.

“The place is a stronghold not a prison; we’ll wait for _them_ to come to _us_.”

* * *

 

It had all happened so fast. They’d shaken him awake, picked him up and shoved him out the door with his hands still tied behind his back. They’d made him walk out to the cart - well, ‘walk’ might not be the word, more like a mixture of hopping, dragging his bad leg and leaning heavily on the guards.

He’d planned on staging some sort of fight when they were walking him across but found that it was all he could do not to fall flat on the face Then they’d shoved him into the cart and Zuko found himself stuck in another metal box with too much time to think.

He’d let another chance slip from his fingers but he couldn’t just give up. He couldn’t just accept that Zhao, of all people, had beaten him and now he was being carted back to his father as a disgrace. There had to be a way.

The wheels started and they were on the move. He would have to think fast.

Maybe... maybe he could break the door? Trick them into opening it? Take a chance when they were moving him from the cart to the ship?  And then what, crawl his way to freedom? He had two hands behind his back and only one leg in use. The idea of using his bad leg made him writhe, and the unchanged bandage and lack of food and water had not helped.

Maybe...maybe…

Zuko slammed his head into the wall. What was the point? Even if he managed to get free, and that was pitifully unlikely, there was no way of going home. His father had made that painfully clear.

He’d spent his entire life grasping at straws and now even that luxury had been taken from him. The wheels kept turning. Zuko hung his head, knowing fully well that he could do nothing to stop it.

Eyes closed in defeat, Zuko almost toppled over when the cart suddenly stopped. _I’ve already accepted my fate,_ he grumbled, _can’t I just have a smooth journey the rest of the way?_

The world’s answer was no, he could not, because the commotion outside just got louder; guards shouting, fires crackling, ostrich-horses stampeding away panic. Zuko’s eyes were wide when the door swung open to show the Water Tribe boy with a ring of keys in his hands, looking like he’d want to be anywhere else but here.

“Are you going to sit there all day, jerkbender?” He rolled his eyes. “C’mon, follow me!”

He turned back around to face the scuffle outside, not knowing the gargantuan task he had just given Zuko: walking. Calling for help was not an option, not when your rescuer was your reputed enemy and you have no clue how any of this was happening, so Zuko sucked it up, got up on his knees and stood. He took a step. He crumbled on the second. The strain, plus lack of food, water and basic rest, took their toll once more, and Zuko was out cold before he even got back up to his knees.

* * *

 

“Ew! It’s green.” Sokka observed, quite unhelpfully.

The three of them, plus the unconscious firebender, were riding on the back of Appa, flying away from the scene as fast as the bison could take them. They all sat around as Katara unwrapped the linen from said firebender’s leg. She looked at the wound again and could confirm that the edges of it were, in fact, a sickly tinge of green.

“It’s not great.” She admitted. “Whoever treated this barely cleaned the wound and the bandages haven’t been changed in days.”

“Do you think he can walk again?” Aang asked, peeking over her shoulder.

She dabbed the lesion with a damp cloth. “Not anytime soon.”

Suddenly, Zuko stirred, eyes still half-lidded and delirious.

“Where am I?” His eyes cleared enough for a hint of suspicion to grow in them. “Why did you save me?”

There was a moment of silence where they all questioned whether or not they should amuse the half-awake firebender, before Aang cleared his throat and put a hand on his chest.

“Because _you_ saved _me,_ Zuko.”

He squinted his eyes as if he were trying to decipher those words. “We’re enemies.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that if you hadn’t rescued me, I’d still be trapped and Sokka and Katara would still be sick out of their minds.”

“I only rescued you so I could capture you myself.”

“I don’t think you’re a bad person because of that. We just ended up on different sides of a war.” Aang reasoned. “And besides, you’re not trying to capture us now.”

“I…” Zuko’s face was pained, as if he wanted to say more. Or maybe it was just the bad leg. Either way, he never got the words out before he fell unconscious once more.

“...Sorry.” Katara said. She might have gotten a bit too forceful on that cleaning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: The Recovery  
> In which Zuko is hurt, has nowhere to go, and the gaang has gifts.


	3. The Recovery

_Chapter Three:  
_ **The Recovery**

* * *

Okay… okay… Zuko was going to need a moment to set things straight.

A few days ago, he'd tried to free the Avatar from Pohuai stronghold; an act of treason in itself but he was desperate, and he was never meant to get caught. Surprise, surprise, he got caught, and got an arrow in the leg to show for it. Zhao had found out he was the Blue Spirit, told his father and had him branded as a traitor to the whole nation. He had been on his way back for trial, and most likely death, before...

The Avatar and his friends had rescued him. He wasn't even going to try to understand that.

When Zuko woke up, he'd found himself in a cot cordoned off by white cloth. Beyond the cloth was relative quiet, but there were murmurs of voices and shadows of people bustling about. The area had a smell he could only describe as sterile; the scent of herbs and constant cleaning. It seemed the Avatar had set him up in an Earth Kingdom clinic before he left.

Zuko took a deep breath. No one seemed to know he was Fire Nation yet, seeing as he wasn't dead on the spot, but he wasn't about to linger here till they found out. He couldn't stay long. Time to take stock.

He was still wearing his clothes from the rescue, which he really needed to change out of before he died of his own rank. Zhao had taken his swords and knife, leaving him unarmed. A pang of grief shot through him as he realized he'd lost his uncle's gift, but he didn't have time to mourn.

He took another breath to pull himself together. It was with a pleasant jolt that he realized that the pain in his leg had died down considerably. Clean white bandage wrapped around it, giving off a bit of a cool sensation. It still hurt like hell when he moved it, the pain crawling up his thigh and seething into his hip like sharp ice, but it was improvement though, and that was all Zuko needed.

Perhaps his best chance was to just walk out of here without anybody noticing. Then he would… well, he'd figure that out when he actually got outside.

Zuko swung his legs across the bed, so he was sitting on its edge, and was about to take a step when a head popped through the curtain. He didn't recognize her, but the pale green of her dress told him he was indeed in the Earth Kingdom.

"Oh, you're awake!" Her grin began to fall when she noticed his position. "You weren't about to try and stand on that leg, were you?"

No, I wasn't going to stand on that leg, I was about to try and walk out of here with it, thank you very much. Zuko saw no reason to answer some Earth Kingdom girl, and stayed quiet.

She softened at the silence, apparently quite used to stubborn patients. "I'm Song, I've been taking care of you while you were here."

"What do you want?" He spit out.

The frown returned. "You were a lot nicer when you were asleep." She ducked her head out of the curtain and said before closing it, "By the way, your friends are here."

...Friends?

The little airbender's head darted in through the curtain. "You're awake!"

Zuko watched in absolute bewilderment as the three of them appeared; the Avatar up to his bedside, the waterbender a little farther back and her brother poking his skeptical head between the curtains, staying as far away as possible. Zuko's head was starting to ache again.

"You were out for awhile so we decided to go out and do some shopping. And we got gifts!" The Avatar cheered, holding up the array of things in his arms.

"It was nice not to spend our own money for once." The waterbender mused smugly.

Her brother stopped leering for a second to say, "That Zhao carried a lot of cash on him."

The thought of Zhao getting robbed was enough to cheer anybody up, but it did nothing to help put Zuko's confusion into words.

A bundle of cloth was laid on the bed by the airbender. "Some new clothes for obvious reason. And swords to make up for the ones you lost when you rescued me."

Zuko stared at the blades and sputtered, "What?"

"That was exactly my reaction when he said he wanted to arm the firebender." The Water Tribe boy groaned.

The Avatar was too busy grappling with his purchases to pay much attention to them.

"And this." He said as he laid the final gift down: a long gnarled stick of wood with a short bit bent as a handle, fully lacquered and colored a deep brown.

Anger finally found him something to say. "I'm not an invalid."

"But you're healing." The airbender held up the cane and pleaded.

The waterbender added on before he could argue. "And knowing how stubborn you are, you're not going to wait to try and walk again. We might as well make sure you don't mess yourself up too bad."

It was annoying how accurate she was.

"Why are you even here?" He grumbled. "Why are you helping me?"

"Did you hear anything while we were up on Appa?" The Avatar said.

"Yes, but it doesn't make sense!" He shouted. "We're enemies."

"We don't have to be." The airbender mumbled, grey eyes pleading, as if he actually believed that.

"Yes, we do."

"Then why aren't you trying to capture Aang right now?" The Water Tribe boy asked, curious enough to finally step fully through the curtain."The jerkbender I know wouldn't let a bad leg stop him."

"Because there's no point anymore! I only ever wanted to capture the Avatar so I could… ugh, why am I even telling you this?" Zuko rubbed his face in his hands. How desperate had he gotten to be able to talk civilly with the Avatar of all people? "This isn't supposed to be happening."

The airbender sat down on the cot, defeated. "Fine then, Zuko. Where do you want to go? Your ship? When your leg heals we can take you there."

His ship. His uncle. He'd never thought he'd ever grow to yearn that overbearing piece of metal garbage, but he also never thought he'd be sitting in an Earth Kingdom hospital while the Avatar offered to give him a ride. That made it all the worse when he finally realized.

"I… can't." He confessed. "I can't go back. I'm a traitor now. They'd have to arrest me on sight."

Even though they'd sailed with him through banishment, his crew was Fire Nation at the end of the day, and they'd always been less than happy to sail with him in the first place.

He wondered if they'd looked for him…

No, he shouldn't hope for that. They probably sailed straight back home once they saw that he had turned traitor and their mission was finally over.

The Avatar and his friends shared nervous looks before Aang looked him in the eye with a grin and declared, "That settles it then. You're coming with us."

"What?" Zuko and Sokka mimicked.

"Just until your leg heals, ok? I still owe you for saving me, and I'm not about to leave you in the middle of nowhere, knowing you have nowhere to go. Not with a bad leg, at least."

Zuko stared, waiting for the trick, but found that the airbender was completely earnest. Travelling with the Avatar? That was absolutely preposterous. Except that with a sinking feeling in his stomach, Zuko realized that the idea wasn't even his worst option. Not when the Earth Kingdom would have his head if they knew who he was, he was seen as an enemy to his own country and he didn't have a single ally to his name. Not to mention that he couldn't even walk.

And if the tables ever turn and I need to capture the Avatar again, he thought cynically. Well, he'll be right there.

He didn't say that part out loud. He also didn't say 'yes', but with his eyes turned to the floor and arms crossed in defeat, he definitely wasn't saying 'no', either.

* * *

Alright… Zuko was going to need another moment.

It had all started falling apart when… the Avatar had gotten himself captured. That must have been when. He should have just let Zhao take him. Then at least he'd still be able to roam free, maybe even devising another way to convince his father to let him home.

Zuko scoffed at himself. If he was going to start messing around with 'should haves' he might as well go back three years ago and say he should have never said anything at that war council. Then he definitely wouldn't be in this mess.

As it was, the future he'd hoped for had shattered into sharp, irreparable pieces. His father wanted him dead. His home rejected him. He was in exile. He'd wanted to get as far away from everything as possible, away from that stronghold, away from that night, away from the memory of Zhao crushing him, and any remnants of his honor, under his foot. And in that frenzy, he'd accepted the help of his nation's greatest enemy: the Avatar.

Somehow, he'd turned into even more of a traitor than before.

Zuko espied the blades at his bedside. Deciding that he might as well play the part, Zuko brought the blade to the base of his phoenix tail, and sheared it off. Its weight fell into his hands. Somehow, his mind didn't feel any lighter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: The Schism  
> In which Zuko knows one thing, sees something else, and ends up very confused.


	4. The Schism

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter and the next aren't exactly my favourites. I planned on reworking them a bit, but the time has passed and it's time to post. I hope you enjoy it either way!

_Chapter Four:  
_ **The Schism**

* * *

Zuko couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand… not being able to stand. It just wasn't in his psyche to stay down, even if it was good for him. It wasn't long after the Avatar and his friends had left him to his own devices that Zuko had swung his legs onto the side of the bed again. On his bedside, the cane felt like it was mocking him.

He started with putting all his weight on his right leg, then slowly lowered his left, the stiffness in his ankle practically screaming at him that this was not a good idea. Then, as is she had a sixth sense for knowing when Zuko was about to do something idiotic, Song popped her head through the curtain.

"I want to go outside." He said. Leaning heavily on the cot and looking like he was about to topple over, Zuko was in no position to be giving orders, but the girl seemed to understand anyway. She hooked his arm around her shoulder and helped him hobble outside without a word.

The white curtain had been hiding just how much pain was surrounding him. It was with wide eyes that he took in the sight of beds full of the injured, their skin covered in red burns and white bandages. Along the walls sat friends and families, the provided seating had long since run out, all silent and morose.

She caught him staring. "The war's been hard for us here. Especially so close to the front lines."

As they made it out of the doorway, Zuko watched a plume of black smoke snake across the sky. Its source wasn't too far away.

Zuko knew that war had a price. They'd drilled that into his head back at the palace. But they'd also drilled through his head that the war was one of glory, a way of spreading the Fire Nation's light with the world.

Even after three years at sea, Zuko had never been so close to the war. With casualties at his back and battlefield smoke stinging his eyes, those earlier words felt null.

They sat along the porch. Song must have mistaken his silence for something else, because he caught her staring at his scar with something mournful in her eyes.

"Your friends wouldn't tell me what happened to you, but I know it was the Fire Nation. It's ok. I understand. We've all been through it." She pulled up her pants leg to show him the jagged burns that wrapped around her calf.

She might have meant it as a show of camaraderie but all it did was strike horror into his stomach because  _no, they were not the same_. Zuko had been scarred as a punishment. Her scar was a mark of war, a war that a young, Earth Kingdom hospital worker shouldn't have had any part in.

There was nothing he could say to make her understand that though, so he looked back out to the smoke filled sky. Then as he watched, something large and white began floating out of the soot and flying towards them. The Avatar's bison landed with a  _thud_.

"Here's our stop!" The airbender called, before helping down the other passengers on the saddle, a family that had seemingly gotten too close to the flames. Song stood to help. Zuko stayed sitting, trying to ignore the guilt gnawing at his stomach.

* * *

Travelling with the Avatar was… strange to say the least. He remembered the first time he'd gotten on the air bison and wondered how in the world he'd ended up with these people.

There were the two Water Tribe siblings, Sokka and Katara. Sokka had been skeptical of him from the start and was probably one misplaced spark away from throwing him off the saddle. He was mostly just confused as to why they'd brought him along in the first place, something Zuko did not have an answer for. After a few days of not stabbing anyone in the back, his suspicion turned more into curiosity. It was more than once that Zuko had turned to see Sokka staring at him as if about to ask a question.

"What?" Zuko would bark.

"Nothing," he'd answer, waving away the moment. "Jerkbender."

Then there was Katara, who was a little more cordial. After stealing her necklace and kidnapping her, Zuko should be grateful for that much. Zuko's only redeeming factor to her seemed to be that he saved the Avatar, and in turn her and her brother as they had been sick at the time, he learned. For the most part, she tried to pretend he wasn't there, as if looking at him agitated her but she didn't want to show it. Which made sense, he guessed. She still checked up on his leg out of principle.

The Avatar was a completely different story. Somewhere along the way he'd gotten the idea that since Zuko wasn't chasing them anymore, they could be friends. Zuko refused to consider the idea. He may be a fugitive but he was still a Fire Nation prince at heart, and he wasn't about to shake hands with his nation's greatest enemy. That didn't stop the airbender from bubbling up with questions and trying to get him to return his idiotic smile.

He had tried to capture these people for crying out loud. On the first nights, he'd stayed up suspecting a trick. When nothing came, it became clear that the Avatar really was that sincere and naive; which grated on Zuko's ego, because how had he not managed to catch these… these  _kids?_

On darker occasions, Zuko wondered if he could sack the Avatar, take him over Fire Nation lines and hope that his father changed his mind. It was a stupid idea, and not even because it would be physically impossible to catch the Avatar, not when he couldn't even  _stand_. It was a stupid idea because his father never went back on his word, and his word made it painstakingly clear that he would never let him home.

And maybe, just maybe, a little part of Zuko didn't want to catch the Avatar. Zuko never wanted to catch the Avatar in the first place, he was just a kid after all, it just happened to be his only way home. Now that that chance was gone, Zuko had no reason to affiliate himself with him, as an ally or an enemy. He just hoped Aang could do some good. Before the Fire Nation caught him, of course, and they would catch him eventually, just like one day they'd win the war. And maybe, just maybe, an even smaller part of Zuko didn't want that to happen; and not just because he'd have to hide a whole lot better if the Fire Nation controlled the world.

He tried to ignore it. Those were traitorous thoughts. Though seeing as he was already an enemy of the Fire Nation, there was really no reason to shy away from them.

Most of the time, Zuko kept his mind dull enough to do nothing else but stare blankly at the sky and will his leg to heal faster. It was better that way. It kept him from remembering that he'd never go home, or that his country wanted him dead, or that the war was a lot less clear-cut than he thought, or that he was travelling with his once enemy, or -

Dull. Right.

He would wait till his leg healed, wait until the last chains of Zhao's imprisonment could finally be shaken off. What he would do once his leg healed, he's not entirely sure, but he's pretty sure that it was a reasonable first step forward. Literally and metaphorically.

Until that happened, Zuko would have to sit with the bison and wait, unless he wanted to crawl away and die alone in the wilderness.

The Avatar and his friends had set down in some sort of encampment deep in the forest. A river slithered close by. The three had went off with little more than a smile from Aang, telling him that they'd found a firebending teacher and they might be staying here a few days. A firebending teacher? It wouldn't bode well for the Fire Nation if the Avatar could learn to use their own element against them.

Zuko didn't exactly have any say in that, though, and more than anything, Zuko wondered if whoever this master was could help him with his own problem.

He mustered a fire not much bigger than a torch flame in his hands. That was about as big as he could get it. It had been like that ever since Zhao's imprisonment. Ever since he'd lost his chance of going home, it was like a fire had been quenched from his soul. His firebending had gone with it.

He'd thought it was just his body recovering from the stress, but he feared it might be permanent.  _Permanent._ The idea rattled him so much that his time with the Avatar seemed reasonable, as long as it could bring back his bending. He hadn't told any of them, of course; no need to make himself even less threatening than he already was.

Zuko stared down at his leg accusingly. He'd been healing slowly over the last few days but his bending hadn't grown a spark stronger. Maybe… maybe being able to stand and walk on his own would be enough to bring back his fire.

He heard Aang and his teacher training in the distance. Perhaps he could hit two birds with one stone.

It was a long shot, he knew. He'd been trying to stand for days now, grappling with tree branches and Appa's fur every time the Avatar and his friends left him alone. He could barely rise to his knees without his vision growing black. But this was Zuko, and he'd be damned if he didn't try. It was comical, really. He got up on his right knee, slowly rose on one leg as he fruitlessly tried to pivot his other, leaning against Appa for support he managed a one legged stand, only to scrape his elbows on the dirt at the first moment he tried to throw some weight on his left. Then repeat until he was worse off than before.

Dusting himself off once more, Zuko sat dejected, wondering if it was even worth trying again. And there, on the dirt, was the cane lying in wait. He'd tried to ignore it, hadn't even known Aang had brought it with him from the hospital, but it grew more and more tempting as the days whittled on. This time, his gaze lingered. Reaching for it now, he hesitated.

_You're healing._ His mind tried to assure him.  _You're healing._

Convincing himself that it was a means to an end and not a defeat, Zuko took the cane in his hands and with great effort, rose first to his knees and then all the way up. Putting as little weight on his bad leg as possible, Zuko slowly hobbled forward, enjoying the simple pleasure of being able to stand and walk on his own again. Albeit, shakily, but much better than before.

The voices in the distance grew louder.

Aang was whining. "I've been breathing for hours."

"You want to stop breathing?" His teacher, Jeong Jeong was his name, mocked.

Zuko stumbled across the treeline to the riverside, where the Avatar stood, shoulders hunched and frowning like an impertinent child.

"I want to stop wasting time!" He huffed.

"I had a pupil like you once. He had no interest in learning discipline. He was only concerned with the power of fire - how he could use it to destroy his opponents and wipe out the obstacles in his path."

Zuko snorted as he walked nearer. Sounded like a certain admiral he knew.

Jeong Jeong continued, voice now grave. "But fire is a horrible burden to bear. Its nature is to consume and without control it destroys everything around it."

Aang didn't seem impressed. Zuko was even less so. Zuko was no firebending master, but even he knew that a firebender who was wary of his own element was bound to get burned; and they had absolutely no business trying to teach someone else.

He was also never good at keeping his mouth shut. "How could you ever hope to teach someone firebending if you think fire is a burden?"

Jeong Jeong turned to face him and looked him over with distaste. He stated simply. "Fire is a curse."

That struck a match in Zuko. "Fire is a gift."

Even in such uncertain times, that was one thing Zuko was sure of.

The man just scoffed, now completely ignoring the student at his back. "A gift? Have you seen this world? This war? Fire destroys! It is not like the other elements; unattended fire does nothing but consume. Those who wield it walk the line of humanity and savagery. I already know where you fall on that line,  _Prince_  Zuko."

He used his title sarcastically, just as Zhao had. Not only that but he'd just implied that Zuko was a savage. How dare he? How dare he try and say that all fire could do was burn and destroy? The image of the sky blackening back at the hospital flashed in his eyes, but  _no, fire was so much more than that -_

"This war is to spread the Fire Nation's glory. We're sharing our light with the world." That's what he had always been told. It had made sense.  _Had._ Now, his words were turning to lead on his tongue as he said them.

"Are you blind?" Jeong Jeong half-laughed, as if he knew that even Zuko didn't fully believe his own words. "All you have to do is look at your own face to know the true nature of fire!"

Aang winced. "Oooh. Ouch."

Zuko grit his teeth. Trying more than he ever had not to stumble, Zuko turned around and hobbled his way willingly back to Appa. If he'd had his firebending, the forest might have spontaneously combusted on the way.

* * *

Zuko spent a long time sulking by the bison before Aang came barrelling through the trees.

"I can't believe I did that!" He shouted, before crashing next to Appa and burying his head in his hands.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked, too deflated to keep up that 'no talking with the enemy' thing.

"I can't believe… I can't believe I burned Katara!"

"What? Is she hurt?" Zuko quirked an eyebrow. After taking care of this leg for some time, it was the least he could do to show some concern.

"I was fooling around and then I - I burned her hands." He muttered, before sitting upright in a rage. "I should have listened to Jeong Jeong, I should never have tried to learn firebending!"

"Yeah, listen to Jeong Jeong. I'm sure that'll go great." Zuko rolled his eyes at how distraught the kid was. "Look, fire is fire. We all get burned at one time or another, you just have to put some salve on it and move on."

"No. You don't understand. I'm never going to firebend again."

Zuko's eye grew wide for a moment, before he remembered that he shouldn't care. In fact, he should have been happy that the Avatar was handicapping himself, but he wasn't. All he saw was a kid terrified by something he didn't understand and blaming himself for something he couldn't control.

"You hurt her by accident. That's no reason to stop."

"No, I hate that I burned her by accident; I can't even imagine burning someone on  _purpose_." Zuko tensed at that, but Aang continued "Jeong Jeong was right, all fire can do is hurt and destroy."

Zuko turned his eyes downcast.

Destruction. Savagery. Was that really how the world saw it?

Fire had always seemed… warm to Zuko. When he thought fire, he didn't think of death or destruction. He didn't think of the scar on his face. He thought of his mother's hands around his as he cradled his first flames. He thought of the times years ago when she would pick him up so he could reach the candles on the wall and light them.

That was what he saw, yet reality, it turned out, was different. Fire was oppressing heat, it was war. It was the force that burned the forest and sent soldiers home covered in scars, and remembering Song, not just soldiers. Families were torn apart by it. It ravaged without care.

_A burden_ , Jeong Jeong called it.  _A curse._

That wasn't true though. Perhaps this war was a horrible thing but fire itself was so much more than the burn. It was a pity that the Avatar was made to believe that.

Zuko lit a small flame in his hands. Aang stared in surprise, as if he'd forgotten in the days they'd spent together not fighting that Zuko was a firebender, too.

"Fire  _is_  different from the other elements. Fire lives on its own. If you don't respect its will to live, you'll get burned. Or you'll burn someone else." Aang broke his stare. Zuko continued, hands still cradling the flame. "But fire is more than just destruction. Even if it seems like that sometimes."

He wasn't sure Aang was convinced, but Zuko had spoken more to himself, anyway.

Suddenly, Katara came crashing through the forest.

"Aang!" She shouted. "Zhao and his soldiers are attacking!"

The airbender was up on his feet. "Katara, I'm so sorry for - "

"There's no time for that right now. We have to leave!"

Aang shook off his brooding and asked, "Where are they?"

"By the river. They captured Jeong Jeong."

Aang wound his hands into fists "I have to help him."

"Wait! Aang!" Katara yelled out as he flew off towards the river. She groaned and started throwing supplies on top of Appa.

"I thought your hands were burned." Zuko sputtered out.

"My hands?" She said. "I healed them."

"You healed them?"

"I'll tell you later." She said, but Zuko didn't miss the quick glance at his leg. "Now come on."

She helped him up aboard Appa, dragged her brother into the saddle, and they were off.

Over the treetops, he caught sight of Zhao. Aang, in airbender fashion, was flitting and weaving around the firebender, dodging whatever was being thrown at him. Consumed with trying to hit his target, Zhao was completely unaware that he was burning his boats in the process. In the midst of the burning wreckage, Zhao looked up and met Zuko's eyes. Disgust roiled in his stomach. With admirals like that, no wonder the world saw them as savages.

Aang joined them atop Appa, and they were off into the sky.

It was with a sinking feeling in his stomach that Zuko wondered if he too had been so busy trying to reach his target, that he hadn't noticed the boats burning underneath him as well.

* * *

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: The Division  
> In which Zuko is still confused, loyalties are tested and Aang makes an offer.


	5. The Division

_Chapter Five:  
_ **The Division**

* * *

"So you can heal with water?" Zuko asked.

The group had set down for the night, right next to a stream at the request of Katara. On the bank of it, she'd unwrapped the bandage on his calf in order to try out her new water healing on his wound. Zuko stayed skeptical of the ability, if only to hide how much he hoped it would work.

"Yeah, Jeong Jeong said some waterbenders have the power to use their bending to heal." She said, covering his leg with water. It began to glow blue as she spoke. "It healed my burns. Maybe it can do the same for your leg."

Through the glow, Zuko could see where the arrow had entered, before ripping through tendons and sprouting out on the other side. Just looking at it made him angry. It was red and raw, but as he watched, it began to shrink until all that remained was a jagged scab.

"There. Try that."

Zuko stared in awe. His leg had just healed more in a matter of minutes than it had after almost a week of rest. If there was anytime to be hopeful, it was now, and Zuko shakily, with the help of the cane, made it onto his feet. If he still wasn't wary of showing emotion to the group, Zuko would've smiled. Either way, it wouldn't have lasted. As if the healing ran on a timer, pain shot back up his leg, and dragged him down to his knees.

"It's better." He bit out once he sat down and the pain dulled into a muted ache. "Maybe… maybe a little longer?"

Katara nodded, bringing the water back to his leg. She closed her eyes, but the blue glow faded after only a few seconds.

She wouldn't meet his eyes. "I think that's all I can do. Maybe it just needs to heal naturally the rest of the way."

Zuko turned away, holding himself back from pleading  _try again._ "Yeah. Maybe."

He began wrapping the wound again, trying his best not to feel bitter.

He stared at his leg. It was progress and that was a good thing, but even with the outside improvement his leg was still weak and his ankle completely stiff. Zuko couldn't stop the word  _permanent_ from bouncing around in his head, not when rest had so far been useless and bending magic had reached a bottleneck.

How much he'd lost since Pohuai Stronghold was starting to toll on him. First his freedom, then his title, then his home, ship, and bending. Was he going to end up a cripple, too?

"Just rest and use the cane if you need to walk, ok?" Katara reminded him.

"Alright." He shook away the gloom and added quickly. "Thank you."

Zuko sighed as he finished the bandage. He had to keep moving forward, even if it felt like he was dragging chains around wherever he went. Soon enough he'd have to move on, whether his leg healed or not. Thinking of what  _moving on_ meant, was even more tolling than his leg.

Aang poked his head up from behind the bison. "Are you guys done? We should all get a good rest tonight. Next stop, the Northern Air Temple!"

* * *

Zuko was tired. That was probably worse than anything else. He was often angry, sometimes sad and sometimes even happy, but even after three years at sea he never got tired. He charged on senselessly like a komodo-rhino towards whatever goal was in front of him.

Walking around the air temple, Zuko was tired. He was pretty hopeless as well, for more than a few reasons. Hopeless that he'd ever get his bending back. That he'd ever go his leg would heal fully. That the war would ever seem right in his eyes again.

He sighed. Aang might have freed him from Pohuai Stronghold, but Zuko felt just as trapped. From the courtyard, he watched the residents of the temple fly around on gliders like a flock of strange birds. It was a sight that could have amazed anyone, but all he could see were refugees  _made_  by the Fire Nation living out in an air temple that had been  _made vacant_  by the Fire Nation.

"What's with the cane?" Someone asked beside him. It was one of the kids from the temple, the one in the wheelchair that had glided besides Appa as they first landed. He looked at the bandages wrapped around both his legs and bitterly wondered if that was the work of his nation as well.

He answered curtly. "I got hit by an arrow a few weeks ago. It's still healing… if it heals at all."

"An arrow, huh?" He said, wheeling around to see his leg. He snapped his fingers. "Oh right, Aang told me you saved him from the Fire Nation. That's awesome."

_That was a strange way of putting it,_  Zuko thought. It was also curious that Aang had introduced him as 'the guy who saved him from the Fire Nation' instead of 'the angry jerk who chased him around the world'. It wasn't worth remembering he guessed.

"Well, I paid a heavy price to save him."

He laughed. "What? A leg?"

_A lot more than a leg,_ but he wasn't about to get into that. The sight of the kid's own prone appendages made it seem almost trivial.

"I burned a lot of bridges. I...feel trapped, really."

He chewed on those words for awhile.

"Huh. I know a thing or two about feeling trapped. I lost my legs before I could even walk." He shrugged, as if to wave off any pity he might feel. "But from what I make of it, we're only as trapped as we let ourselves feel. And I choose not to feel that way."

He turned to the cliffside, the wind picking up and beginning to pull his glider into the air. He asked if he'd like to try flying as well, which Zuko declined, before riding off the edge and shooting into the sky. Zuko watched a moment longer, before turning back to the temple and hobbling off once more.

* * *

No one bothered him as he wandered. He was trying to find his feet, so to speak, and he was grateful to be able to do it alone.

_We're only as trapped as we let ourselves feel._ If that were true, well, Zuko was sick and tired of feeling like it. Zhao wasn't going to leave his chains on him, not anymore.

His bending… would come back. He had to believe that. His leg, whether it was bound to heal or not, still needed time, and that was something he could give it.

He wasn't ready to let go of his home, not after fighting for so long, but the more time went on, the more the yearning fell to the sidelines. The longing to go home would never disappear, and maybe that was a good thing, but there were other wishes that had grown to be more important. And some of them he might actually be reachable.

Well, reachable by comparison. Ending a hundred year conflict was just a sliver more likely than his father welcoming him home.

This war… was wrong. Even thinking it now, he whipped his head around as if worried someone would hear. He'd been hidden from it in the palace, had been too one-minded to notice it during his banishment, but now that he was a fugitive thrown in the middle of the fray, nothing else could be true. Not when Song had to tend to so many casualties while nursing scars of her own, not when the Fire Nation's own soldiers were swayed to hate their own element, not when he could see refugees scurrying to Ba Sing Se like ants from Appa's saddle.

He knew that by calling the war wrong, he was calling his own father wrong. But his father had never seen the devastation. He'd never left the Fire Nation as far as he knew. If he could just see, he would understand. The war was hurting their own people, too.

_Unless he knows._ A tiny voice whispered in his head.  _And he doesn't care._

That was just as likely true. Startlingly, he found that he couldn't bring himself to worry. Perhaps it was because he was already disowned; his father would never approve anything he did anyway.

Zuko leaned against his cane to stomach those thoughts. He'd never stop yearning for home, but that was alright. This war was loathsome. Whether his father knew or not did not negate that fact. And Zuko would get better one day, in bending, body and mind. He felt strangely settled.

Which left him with one last question. They were at the Northern Air Temple. It didn't take a genius to know that the only destination from here for the Avatar was none other than the Northern Water Tribe. The question was where he would go now.

His leg was still healing, true, but if he stayed with them on their journey north, that would be the point of no return. His nation may call him one, but Zuko wasn't a traitor. Even from the beginning, Zuko had only wanted to help; he would never try to hurt his nation. He'd thought that the only way to help was by going home and being the prince he was supposed to be, but that bridge had been burnt a long time ago. If following the Avatar meant he could end this war and help his people, perhaps… perhaps he could consider it.

Voices from the bridge were suddenly in his ears.

"This is bad." The kid, Teo was his name, said.

" _Very_  bad!" Sokka echoed.

"How are we going to do this, Aang?" Katara pleaded.

Zuko walked into the sunlight. "How are we going to do what?"

Teo wheeled into view. "The Fire Nation! They're coming to invade the temple!"

Zuko froze in place, hand clutching the cane handle like a lifeline. It felt like the bridge was shaking, but that might have just been his legs. "What _?"_

"Don't worry, I have a plan." Aang said, uncharacteristically resolute. "They might have more firepower, but we have something they don't: air power. As long as we control the skies, we have the advantage."

He looked at him as if waiting for confirmation. The other's piped in with nods and 'maybe it just might work' but all Zuko could do was take a slow step backwards. Sokka caught it.

He turned to him, suspicion hardening his face. "Is there a problem, Zuko?"

The feeling of hostility he'd felt before, the me against them mentality, had slowly dulled away over the weeks, but in a few moments it had all come rushing back. Every curious gaze seemed suspicious. It had never seemed more obvious how different their worlds were.

The settled feeling he'd had before was crumbling quicker than a house of cards in the wind. Zuko slowly shook his head. "I can't fight the Fire Nation. They're my people."

Sokka huffed, less angry, more as if throughly dissapointed. "Come on, Zuko. How are you still on their side? You've seen what they've done. Look around you; they want to destroy this place! Not just that, but they've already done it!"

He pointed to the temple wall behind him. The white facade, once ornamented with ancient Air Nomad engravings, was scorched black with ash. Even after decades of rain and squalor, the scar hadn't washed away.

"We're going to defend this place, Zuko. No matter what."

Zuko stared at the marks, horror churning in his stomach so violently he had to turn away. His people, under bad orders, had slaughtered the Air Nomads. But they were  _his_ people, and he wasn't going to turn his back on them.

Zuko all but whispered. "Then I think I should get out of your way."

He turned around and began his walk across the bridge, silence pressing, feet like lead.

"Wait, Zuko." Aang's voice made him pause. "It doesn't have to be this way. We've travelled together for weeks now and I know you're not a bad person. We don't have to be enemies. I had friends from the Fire Nation a hundred years ago, why does it have to be so different now?"

"What are you trying to say?"

From the corner of his eye, he could see Aang's hand reach out to him. "What I'm trying to say is… can't we be friends, Zuko?"

The question hung in the air, so heavy he might have been able to grab it and hurl it off the mountainside. Could they be friends? They'd travelled together. He'd saved them. They'd healed him. He understood their goals. He might have even gone as far as saying he enjoyed their company.

But at the core of it all, he was Fire Nation and they were at war. If being friends with the Avatar meant betraying his people, he would have no part in it.

"I can't." He bit out. "There's no reason for us to be travelling together anymore. Thank you for your help, but I'll be out of your way now."

Even as he walked away, he wondered if turning his back on the only people he'd seen who'd ever tried to help the world was really the right choice after all. Every step was heavy, like he was dragging a ball and chain at his feet. He wondered if there ever was a right choice to begin with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a little hard to stuff two seasons of character development into two chapters, but hey, I tried.
> 
> Next up: The Reunion  
> In which Zuko is lost, found, and ends up leading the way.


	6. The Reunion

_Chapter Six:  
_ **The Reunion**

* * *

The path down was a winding, tolling journey, but he was grateful for that. It gave him something to focus on other than… everything else. Once he had a moment to think of anything other than not falling off the cliffside, Zuko would have no choice but to remember how comically alone and defenseless he was. Not a single friendly country, not a single ally, not even his uncle at his side to spew meaningless proverbs. That was without mentioning the limp in his step.

Zuko hobbled forward, by sheer luck not meeting a wild animal that could have killed him, until he reached the edge of a little port town. Idly, he remembered the town from his maps as the northernmost port still controlled by the Earth Kingdom. He didn't dare enter.

He stayed in the forest, gathering twigs and kindling for a fire. The clouds covered the air temple from sight, though he wondered if the battle had begun. Should he have stayed and helped?

He smiled humorlessly to himself. What side would he even be on?

Zuko sighed. He was a Fire Nation Prince, but he was also a traitor. Now he was neither, just a fugitive hanging onto the edges of life, with no direction and no purpose.

You never do really realize what you have before it was gone.

He never got the chance to properly thank Katara for healing his leg, as much as she could, anyway. He never told Sokka that he was right to be suspicious of him, and that they might have been lucky so far but one day that suspicion would save them. He never told Aang to  _never_ get captured again, because Zuko won't be there to rescue him the next time around.

Even more, he missed his uncle and his crew, the soft hum of the ship's engine, and the bobbing of the waves. When his banishment became the good old days… well, that's when he knew just how far he'd fallen.

Zuko readied his kindling and stretched out a hand to spark the fire to life. But nothing came. His firebending was completely gone.

* * *

When he woke up the next morning, cold and alone, the world was bleak. There was no happy thought to welcome him back to consciousness, though it'd been a long time since he'd ever woken up like that. No fiery ambition like when he woke up on his ship. He'd even welcome the bewilderment of waking up on the back of a sky bison. He'd trade it for the certainty of being lost, alone and without purpose.

The Avatar was long gone. Home was more than just oceans away.

Zuko skirted the edge of the little port town, staying by the forest edge, knowing that he couldn't risk being seen. Though 'risk' assumed that he had something left to lose, which he didn't, so he tread closer and found the full harbour in his view.

Three-masted sailing ships bobbed on the shore. Merchants and pirates and all the like tried to sell their wares at the waterfront. And on the edge, a certain ship caught his eye. Zuko's heartbeat raced. It was nothing special, just a dull gray Fire Nation steamship, but it was in fact the smallest, slowest, most rotten excuse of a ship in the entire navy.

_His_ ship.

His feet seemed to walk on their own, completely forgetting any semblance of danger, and the next thing Zuko knew he was standing in the shadow of the iron cruiser. It took a moment for anybody to realize. Zuko stood there, unmoving and taut like a bowstring, until a white-haired head popped over the railing, and an all too familiar voice fell on his ears.

"Zuko! Where have you been?" His uncle. His uncle was running across the bridge to meet him, his uncle threw his arms around him in a hug, his uncle was  _here_ , and Zuko felt like collapsing. Dim in the background, a sound came from the ship, something like a cheer, but that couldn't have been right.

He returned the hug, which helped keep his knees from buckling. "Uncle, I - What are you doing here?"

Disbelief was still shining in his uncle's eyes. "What else? We were looking for you!"

"Me? What… how did you even find me?"

Iroh slipped a knowing smile. "Simple. We followed the Avatar."

_The Avatar._ They'd been following them, they'd been  _looking_ for him, even when he'd consigned himself to a life of failure, his uncle had kept searching.

But, no…This wasn't right. His uncle might've been here, but nothing had changed. The need to collapse was washing over him again.

"You shouldn't be here, Uncle," he took a tentative step back, "I'm a full-on traitor now and they'll call you one too if you try and help me."

The moment reminded him of his departure from the temple. Again, he became a prisoner of circumstance, and again he was left feeling absolutely powerless. This time though, he didn't get to leaving, because Iroh stepped up to grip his shoulder.

"Zuko, I followed you into your banishment, and I will gladly follow you into traitorhood, and wherever you go after that. What the Fire Nation sees you as doesn't matter to me," Uncle wrapped him in another embrace, "I have always seen you as my own."

The fight drained out of him. Zuko wanted to kick himself in the head for ever thinking his uncle would leave him so easily, but for now he held his uncle tight, and allowed himself to feel glad.

When Iroh pulled away, it was worry in his eyes, "Now, where have you been?"

"I... tried to free the Avatar."

Iroh chuckled, "So I've heard."

The next part was a little harder to say, and just thinking about it set his conscience amok. "Aang rescued me, Uncle. After I let him out from Pohuai, he came back for me."

He waited for his uncle's reaction, but he only smiled, "Then I thank him. He has brought me back my nephew."

He'd expected reprimanding for accepting help from the enemy, disbelief at the very least, but Iroh betrayed nothing. Zuko's conscience began spilling out of his mouth.

"Uncle, when I was with the Avatar I saw… everything. The war. The destruction. It's hurting them, it's hurting everyone, even our own people." Zuko confessed, and Uncle listened intently. "Our nation is meant to be one of honor, but this…"

Iroh gripped his shoulder, somber, but his smile seemed almost... proud.

"Peace is the only way to help. Until we restore peace, this war continues to hurt everyone, from the simple peasant… to the crown prince."

"But my father and everyone in the Fire Nation… how could they let it happen?"

"Zuko, you already know how far Ozai's cruelty can reach."

The muscles around his eye twitched, "He doesn't… care? How could he… no, it can't be."

Sadness hung in his eyes, but Iroh's words were firm. "Zhao may have captured you, but your father has trapped you worse. You are your own person, Zuko. It is time to think about who  _you_  are, and what  _you_ want."

_What do_ you  _want?_ Zuko hadn't faced that question honestly for the longest of times. What  _did_ he want? Wasn't it simple? He wanted to go back home, to have his father's praise, and to restore his honor.

But now he was here with his Uncle after being alone for so long, and he found that he didn't want any of it. So what  _did_ he want?

He remembered the little flame dancing in his hand as Aang watched beside him, he remembered Song helping the wounded even as they kept pouring in. He thought of all of them, and how they'd helped heal a lost boy with a bad leg, even when he didn't find himself worth saving. It was time he helped them back.

"I want to stop this war."

"Then we must move fast," Iroh advised, "Even now, Zhao is scraping the nation bare to fund his Siege of the North-"

Zuko's eye widened, "Siege?"

Iroh's mouth was set in a grim line, "Zhao is sailing north with every ship under his command to try and destroy the Northern Water Tribe."

"We have to warn them," Zuko said without question, "We have to help. We have to…"

He trailed off as he began to walk up the plank and met the eyes of his crew on the other side.

Lieutenant Jee stood with his arms crossed and barked, "Well, what are we waiting for?"

Zuko slowly shook his head again. "This isn't my ship to command. I'm a traitor now and I'll turn all of you into traitors too if you help."

"More than we already are?" Jee half laughed, and then began counting on his fingers, "Helping a 'disgraced' prince, running a blockade, entering restricted waters, searching for a traitor, ignoring a summons from our Admiral… I could go on."

Zuko was not convinced. "You have no reason to betray your nation."

"Don't we?" The rest of the crew began to rumble agreement.

"This war ripped apart my family!"

"My entire village was sucked dry to fund this slaughter."

"I have friends in the Earth Kingdom."

"My favourite bar's at Pirate's Cove!"

"Besides," Jee added as he walked to meet him, "I wouldn't call being loyal to our Prince an act of betrayal."

His crew held a fist and a palm in front of them, and bowed. Zuko looked to his uncle with an eyebrow shot up in disbelief.

Iroh shrugged. "I handpicked this crew for a reason, Prince Zuko."

* * *

"A Fire Nation ship's been spotted! Men, to your stations!" A Water Tribe guard yelled atop the frozen wall.

Aang floated up beside him, Katara, Sokka and Yue following behind him.

"A Fire Nation ship?" Aang said, squinting to get a look at the growing black dot.

"Whoever's sailing that thing must be crazy," Katara said.

Sokka's face went slack. "Wait."

Aang's eyes were wide. "No."

Katara spluttered, "It  _can't_ be."

Sokka stole a guard's spyglass and squeaked, "It  _is_."

Aang wrenched the spyglass from his hands to see for himself. He gasped, "It's Zuko!"

"Men, blast that ship out of the water!" The guard ordered.

"Wait!" Aang pleaded, "Let them in!"

The guard stared at him like he'd grown a second head.

"You heard the Avatar," Yue interjected, "Let them in."

Aang stared, utterly flabbergasted but also ridiculously happy, as the ship entered the Northern Water Tribe and docked underneath them. On deck, Zuko walked in his full armored garb with only a slight limp. He held his hand up to him and smiled.

"Is it too late to accept that offer?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, Zuzu. Something finally went right for the kid. How long will that last...
> 
> Next up: The Siege  
> In which Zhao makes a comeback, a battle ensues, but hey, at least they're all friends.


	7. The Siege

"The Fire Nation will be at our shores in little more than a day," Chief Arnook's voice echoed, the words sounding haunted coming out of his mouth.

"Yes," Zuko answered, sitting up straight as the eyes of the Water Tribe citizens bored into his back. His voice felt loud in the huge chamber of the gathering hall. "The Fire Nation navy is sailing this way right now."

Arnook's mouth was set in a thin line. Even with both Aang and his uncle sitting by his side, Zuko felt grim. Hopelessness seeped into the air. He couldn't help but think that a day's notice and an extra boat of fighters wouldn't make much of a difference.

"Wait. I have an idea!" Sokka's voice pierced the silence as he stood. He stared at him with a mischievous glint in his eyes, like he'd done so many times on the back of the sky bison. "We have to make the most of this advantage we have. Zuko, your crew could easily pass off as any regular Fire Nation soldier, right?"

He nodded, and his crew grumbled assurance.

"And they wouldn't happen to know how to sabotage a ship, would they?"

Jee laughed, "After floating on  _that_  ship for 3 years, we know about a hundred and one ways a ship can break."

"Perfect," he could see the gears turning beneath Sokka's eyes, "We'll use the night as cover. The Fire Nation won't attack the city in moonlight, if they know what's good for them, and that'll be our chance. We canoe over there, our waterbenders could get you on the ship, then you guys do your thing, and you get out of there as soon as you can!"

Sokka looked at him, searching for affirmation. Infiltrating a Fire Nation warship, sneaking right under their enemy's noses, crippling the navy from within; it was a crazy plan that just might work. Something about that felt very familiar.

"We should find their commanding officer," Arnook added.

Zuko tensed. " _Zhao._  I'll take care of him."

"Wait!" A guy popped on his feet, fuming and indignant. From Sokka's grumbling, they'd met before and were on less than perfect terms. "You're going to listen to them just like that? How do we know we can trust them? You said you only knew that one!" The guy pointed a finger out at Zuko. "How can we trust the rest of them?"

Arnook frowned and looked to the Avatar for an answer.

Aang turned to him. "Zuko, do you trust them?"

Did he trust them? His crew and his uncle that had stuck with him through three years at sea, had put up with an angsty, rage fueled prince, and had searched for him for weeks after Zhao's capture? "With my life."

"Then I can vouch for them, Chief Arnook."

"But-" The guy stuttered.

"Enough, Hahn." Arnook cut him off. The chief's wizened eyes grew heavy with thought, weighing the plan on his mental scales, before giving a slow nod. "Very well. For now we wait, and we will weather the first strike as well as we can." Now, Arnook stood straight, holding his hands out to his people. "As we approach the battle for our existence, I call upon the great spirits. Spirit of the Ocean! Spirit of the Moon! Be with us!" He cast a look towards Zuko, and the spark of confidence in his eyes grew a little brighter. "Spirit of the Sun, smile down on our cause."

The Water Tribe gave a rousing cheer. For the first time in a long time, a fire lit in Zuko's chest.

* * *

The North Pole's night was frigid and silent. Their boat sliced through the currents with little more than a whisper.

One waterbender sat at the bow of the canoe while the other sat at the back, whipping up a fog as cover. Half a dozen boats streaked past them, but Zuko's docked at the side of the very first battleship. Gold embellished its edges, singling it out as the headquarters of a certain Admiral.

"Remember," the waterbender muttered, "You get in there, stay masked, disrupt the ship anyway you can, and then get back here. If nothing goes wrong, we'll be around to pick you up."

The other saboteurs nodded, though Zuko knew he had his own plans. The water at his side began to bubble.

"Don't wait up for me," Zuko said as he stepped off the side, and the waterbender shot him up over the railing.

He landed soundlessly, breath shallow under his metal helmet. The floor of the ship was nearly empty, only a pair of soldiers who had their backs turned to him. Zuko marched across the deck, as if he had ever right to be here. No one gave him a second glance when he slipped into the innards of the ship.

He let loose a breath. Step one complete. Now he was on his own.

He snaked through the halls with no real plan in mind, just that Zhao was here and Zuko was eager to settle his odds.

He walked with ease. In the company of his uncle and crew, his leg had healed rapidly. With another bit of healing from Katara, the limp had almost completely vanished.

_But be careful,_ She'd said,  _Don't strain yourself too much. I know it doesn't seem like it, but you're still healing._

She was right, it certainly didn't feel like he still needed healing. Zuko was on top of the world; he could walk, he could fight, and for once he was fighting for something worth fighting for. Even if he was still healing, Zuko wasn't about to pull his punches, especially if Zhao was involved.

A voice echoed through the metal hall. He followed the sound, even though the more he heard, the more he writhed.

The Admiral stood on a moonlit balcony, and Zuko had to fight the urge to run out there and throttle Zhao over the railing. Logic thought better of it. A line of guards stood on either side of the opening to the deck, and as good as Zuko might feel, he was not ready to take on half a dozen firebenders. Pair that with the fact that his firebending hadn't exactly come back in full swing yet, and his urge was quickly reined in.

Sure, he had his swords tucked under his armor, but that wasn't a fight he was willing to start. Zuko stood at the side, masquerading as another soldier at attention, and waited. He could hear snippets of conversation from the deck.

Another general stood at Zhao's side. "It'll be a full moon tomorrow night. Our force might be strong, but we haven't seen the Water Tribe with the moon on their side."

"That won't be a problem," Zhao answered, "I plan on removing the moon from the equation."

Zuko didn't know what he meant by that, but it was nothing good. Erasing the moon from the equation… that was impossible, wasn't it? The moon was the moon, you couldn't exactly pull it down and throw it away. But what else could Zhao mean?

He didn't hear much else of the plan after that, no matter how much he strained his ears. Hours passed, his legs cramped, and he was seriously considering attacking just to break the tedium. Before that came to fruition, the horizon flared red behind the Water Tribe's frigid towers.

"There's the sun," Zhao mused, "Resume the siege. Ready the force for a ground assault."

His general bowed, and scurried away. It wasn't long before the ships churned forward, but something was awry. Fires burned on the decks of several ships, a dozen other cruisers stopped and fell behind, catapult rounds arced and fell in the ocean, or sometimes, other ships. Their own ship fell to a stop with a groan and a mighty shiver.

The general scrambled back on deck. "There's been foul play last night. Catapults are misfiring, engines are malfunctioning, propellers are frozen."

Zuko had to stifle a laugh as he watched the Admiral's face redden. His crew had done their job. Perhaps it wasn't a crushing force against Zhao's fleet, but a trip and a fall at least.

"Those barbarians will be sorry for that." He hissed. "We won't miss a few ships. Make for land, we're taking this city by force!"

The general cleared his throat. "Well, um, the propellers are frozen, sir…"

"Well, unfreeze them!"

A bow, a lot of shouting and some engine groaning later, the ship roared back to life. It plowed through the glacier wall and clawed into the ice, like a glorified reenactment of the time Zuko had crashed into the Southern Water Tribe. The moment felt like forever ago.

Zhao turned back to face his guards, a paper clutched in his hand and a cruel grin on his face. "We'll be following this map to a very special location. And when we get there, we're going fishing."

Zuko knew even less of what to make of that than his moon rambling last night. Getting off the ship meant opportunity though, and if the chance popped up soon enough, he'd never have to find out what Zhao's babbling meant.

They marched off the ship and their boots hit the ice, Zhao in the lead with five firebenders and Zuko fanned out behind him like a mini battalion. Five firebenders and Zhao… he could take them, maybe, and he did have the element of surprise after all. He could take them… if he wasn't so out of practice. If his firebending were at its full power. If he wasn't still healing. Zuko sighed, and marched on. He could wait. If there was anything he'd learned over the weeks, it was that a little bit of patience made all the difference.

Despite worries that he might have to fight the Water Tribe to keep up his act, Zhao skirted the edges of battle. Soon, the sound of fighting faded behind them as they threaded through abandoned city streets. Whatever Zhao was planning, Zuko didn't know how much longer he could wait. He shouldered his swords in a better position.

They came to a wall of ice and passed through a round wooden door in the middle of it, and it was like sunlight breaking through the clouds. Not just because the oasis they had walked into felt like a patch of spring in the middle of the tundra, but because Zuko had just gotten the chance he needed. They weren't alone in the oasis; Sokka, Katara, and Yue stood at the ready. Aang sat crossed legged, meditating in the center of it all.

"Zhao!" Katara shouted, stepping in front of the Avatar. "Stay away from him."

"Don't bother. I don't want the Avatar." The Admiral said, to everyone's surprise. "Just step aside, and none of you get hurt."

"Like I'd believe that." A wave of water rose up under her command, and Sokka raised up his boomerang.

Zhao turned his head to his guards and nodded. They stepped forward, including Zuko, and stood ready to fire. Seven firebenders against a waterbender and a boomerang; not good odds at all, even if that waterbender was a master in an almost full moon, but Zuko was about to tip those odds to the defender's favor.

Just as Katara raised her ice spike to hurl at them, just as a flame started to flicker in the guards' hands, just before Sokka let his boomerang fly: Zuko flared out a fire and sent the two guards closest to him scrambling backwards. He pivoted on his heel, pulled his swords from under his armor and stepped back to stand by the Water Tribe siblings. His helmet hit the snow with a thud.

"Let's make these odds just a little bit more fair." Zuko smirked. The three behind him mirrored the expression.

Meanwhile, Zhao was anything but a happy camper. "Attack!"

They spared no time getting to it. Katara's spire of ice met with a fireball and broke into splinters, spraying them with icy mist. She fired half a dozen more in quick succession, but the firebenders sent their own shots to match. Sokka quickly lost his boomerang, not before a hearty  _clunk!_ as it made contact with a helmet, and charged the guards with club in hand.

Zuko lunged forward, a guard against each of his fire tipped swords. He hadn't fought since… since Pohuai stronghold, and the rush nearly blinded him. To stand up for himself and fight for something bigger: it was a long awaited change from weeks of limping and being dragged around.

Pohuai stronghold… Zhao. Where was Zhao?

Zuko scanned the scene in a millisecond. Between the fighting, Yue had slipped away, calling for help no doubt. Still cross legged before the oasis was Aang. How he managed to meditate through it all was beyond him. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a shadow at the doorway just as it disappeared.

A well placed hit on a firebender's helmet sent one unconscious, while a burst of fire sent the other scrambling. With another guard trapped in a pillar of ice, the battle was evenly matched, though Zuko couldn't stay much longer.

He raced through the doorway with a furor. "I'm going after him!"

There was a muffled "Wait!" but Zuko was not about to turn back now, and Sokka and Katara were already busy with the remaining guards.

Zuko was quickly on the Admiral's tail, his black and red armor standing out like a sore thumb. Right as they reached a bridge, he sent a fireball flying past Zhao's head, making him stop dead in his tracks. When he saw it was him, Zhao all but growled.

" _You._ So this is where you've been."

"Running away, Zhao?" He mocked.

"This is only the beginning. Though, you won't get the chance to see what I have in store. Your treachery ends today!" A wall of flame rushed forward. Zuko leaped through it, coming out the other side swinging. "I always knew your greed outweighed your loyalty, but this?" Zhao spat as he threw fireball after fireball. "This is a different level of treachery! You'll pay for this betrayal."

"Want to talk about greed? Look at yourself! You're throwing your entire army against this city, for what? So you get the fame? The titles?"

A sword sliced down towards Zhao, clattering harmlessly on the armor of his forearm. Zhao pitched his arm out, sending the blade flying into the river.

"You know nothing. I'm spreading the glory of the Fire Nation!"

One sword in hand, Zuko stood his ground. "This war is killing them. I'm trying to help my people, which is more than you've ever done!"

A fiery fist swung towards him. Zuko ducked and circled back, a little trick he's learned from a certain airbender, and managed to get a good hit on Zhao from behind. He recovered quickly and took a step back, eyes seething with rage.

"You'll never see home. I make sure of that right now!" He lunged, fire grazing Zuko's arm and making the armor there warm to the touch. Zhao was frenzied now, fighting close and reckless, not caring if he got burned in the process. Zuko blocked shots of fire and tried to back away, but Zhao kept on his heels and gave him no time to attack back.

Then, Zhao drove his ironclad foot into his left calf, right where the arrow had hit.

Katara was right. No matter how much he thought otherwise, his leg was not completely healed yet. It was like ice: solid enough at first glance, but put enough pressure and it shattered into shards. Zuko buckled onto his knees, pain cutting up through his calf, then another kick, and Zuko's on his back, sword clattering out of his grasp. Not missing a beat, Zhao crushed his bad leg under his boot. When the stars cleared from his vision, Zhao's foot was on his chest, pinning him down and squeezing the breath from his lungs.

"I should have gotten rid of you when I had the chance." Dimly, he saw Zhao pull his arm back, flames blazing around his fist.

The reality that Zhao was about to end his life shot through him like a bolt of lightning. Even in death, he would be trapped by Zhao. It seemed almost fitting, though; Zhao had started him on this path, and now he would end it. It was a heinous truth, but with pain snaking through his spine and Zhao's boot on his chest, it wasn't something he could fight.

Zuko's eyes were blurred and quickly growing dark, but he heard a sound. A beautiful sound; The flat  _clunk!_ of a boomerang making contact with an iron helmet.

The pressure on his chest disappeared as Zhao reeled back. From both sides of the bridge, a stream of water shot up and wrapped the Admiral in an icy cocoon.

Zuko lay there, half because of his leg, and half because of the shock. Zuko had relied on himself and only himself for so long that the idea of someone having his back seemed nothing short of a miracle.

"You know, you don't  _have_ to go barrelling out on your own all the time." Sokka jeered as he made his way besides him. "You could always, I don't know, ask someone to back you up?"

With some effort, he got him to sit up, and Katara quickly made her way to them with healing water already in her hands. The glowing blue wrapped around his calf, soaking up the strain, but not nearly as much as it used to, though now wasn't the time to worry about that.

"Aang?" Zuko croaked through the pain.

"He got through to the spirits." Katara looked out to the bay.

There, the iron dots of Fire Nation ships spotted the ocean, but it was a much different sight than earlier that day. The sea itself was at war. Ice locked propellers still, whirlpools churned ships in circles, tides surged over the railings and flooded decks. Waves ran back and forth, slowly driving the ships out to sea. Push and pull, push and pull.

He could just make out the silhouette of the Avatar, rising in the air on a crest of water, arrows glowing blue. The stream that led from the oasis, under the bridge, and out to the ocean glowed the same spectral blue.

Zhao roared fire into the air, though there was little else he could do at this point. With the spirits, the moon, the ocean, and a little bit of fire on the North's side, Zhao's fleet had no choice but to pull back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: The ???  
> In which Zuko is freed, everyone celebrates, and it is only the beginning.


	8. The End

When he finally turned away from the sight of Aang floating in the air, controlling the entire ocean without even lifting a finger, Zuko realized Katara's healing water was still wrapped around his leg, and he was not feeling any of it. It shone in the evening light, bright blue as ever, but none of the usual coolness sank into his leg.

Katara looked laboured. Her voice was faint as she let the glow die, "It was still fragile even before this happened. Everything's shifted and the chi lines are practically  _gone._  I don't know if there's much more I can do."

The magnitude of her words set in slowly. The numbness in his leg became a lot more malignant. Zhao, still utterly trapped behind him, made a half-choked snarl that might've been a laugh, but Zuko was still too out of it to notice.

"Okay," was all he managed to say. "Okay."

If this had been him just a few weeks ago, he would have fought and denied and clawed his way upright just to prove she was wrong. That's what he did when Zhao captured him. That's what he did when he'd first gotten banished.

This time though, there was no rejection, no self-loathing, just a simple acceptance. He'd fought for something he'd believed in and for people he cared about, and getting injured for that, was, in some ways, a mark of honor. No matter what, he still had his uncle, his friends, and a gnarled wooden cane to help him on his feet.

Sokka's hand fell on his shoulder, and with his help, Zuko managed to stand upright, though leaning heavily on his friend. The blue tide was receding, Aang was making his way to the ground, and they turned to the Northern Tribe's gathering hall, where most of everyone seemed to be making their way.

"Wait," Yue said, before they hobbled forwards, "I have an idea."

She turned back to the other side of the bridge and beckoned them to follow her. Slowly, with a generous amount of help, Zuko stumbled his way back to the oasis where they left him to sit by the grass. In the water, two koi fish circled each other in tandem, eyes glowing with silvery light. He didn't know what that was about, but he was in too hazy a mind to ask.

Yue stooped down to touch the water, which still hummed faintly with power. "The Spirit Water. Maybe that can help."

Fresh hope lit up Katara's face, and she quickly kneeled by the water's edge. The water barely touched his skin before an icy cool sank into his bones and up his veins. When the scar on his calf faded completely, Zuko couldn't help but smile.

* * *

After the last spears were laid and ash stains cleaned, a celebration was in order. Casualties, though the worst attack in the tribe's recent history, were light. The city had taken a number of blows, but nothing that couldn't be rebuilt.

Tonight, music laced the air. The smell of meat roasting and seaweed stewing wafted in the breeze, mingling merrily with the sounds of laughter and the hum of conversations. Condolences were given, eulogies read, and stories of battle retold in vivid detail. His own battle, the Battle of the Oasis as it came to be called, was on the tongues of more than one person that night. Protecting Aang, as well as the koi in the pond, was a pivotal moment. If either of them had come to harm, Aang might not have been able to seek aid from the spirits to end the battle.

As if he could hear Zuko reminiscing, Aang popped up besides the table he was sitting at and offered a smile.

"Zuko! I heard what happened; about Zhao, about your leg, about everything!" He said, then peeked down to try and catch a glimpse at his leg. "Is it really healed?"

"Yeah," Zuko answered.

"For good?"

"Yeah. For good."

Aang heaved a sigh, "You have no idea how glad I am to hear that. It's been eating me inside from day one."

"Why would you blame yourself for that?" Zuko asked.

"Because I left you there," he said solemnly.

Zuko almost laughed. "I was trying to capture you, and that's what you regret?"

A smile lit up Aang's face. "We've come a long way from that, haven't we?"

A somber smile reached Zuko's face. Barely a month ago, he'd been trying to capture Aang, hadn't even know his name. He would have given life and limb to have the Avatar in his grasp, to go home to a father that sentenced him to death. Barely a month ago, he'd never been indebted to a waterbender and an Earth Kingdom girl for healing him, he'd never met a Fire Nation deserter or a flying mechanist or a waterbending master. He'd never flown on a sky bison or limped forward with the aid of a cane. With the aid of friends. Yes, he'd certainly come far.

"I just wanted to say thanks. Thanks for giving us a chance," Aang said.

He shook his head, astounded. "I really think I should be saying that to you." The airbender just shrugged. "So thanks. For everything."

The thanks was burdened with so many moments, from the rescue at Pohuai, to helping him heal, to pushing him to stand on his own again. Aang seemed to understand that. He said his goodbyes and wandered off to find others, giving Zuko the space he needed.

Though content, Zuko had never been one to enjoy the uproar of a party, so he stalked off in search of a quieter corner of the city. Glancing back, he saw that Aang had apparently mustered up enough courage to ask Katara to dance, Sokka and Yue were exchanging shy glances from across a table, his crew was in high spirits over whatever fermented drink the Water Tribe had given them, and the night couldn't have been anymore perfect.

He stared off into the rolling sea, before Uncle came to stand besides him. "Why be lonely on a night like this?"

"I just wanted a moment of quiet. A lot's happened in the last few weeks," he said.

Uncle was thoughtful. "It has not been an easy journey for you. But you've found your way, and you've done it all on your own." Iroh laid a hand on his shoulder. "I could not be anymore proud."

"Thank you, uncle."

Despite himself, a few tears almost sprung from his eyes. As far as he'd gotten in the past few weeks, he wouldn't have gone half as far if it wasn't for help. If it wasn't for so many people: Aang, Katara, Sokka, his crew, Uncle, even Song and Teo.

Iroh asked, "What do you plan on now, nephew?"

"I don't know," he said. It was the natural thing to say, the answer he'd had when he asked himself that question in the past. Except this time, the moon was smiling down on that perfect night, laughter was filling the air, and an answer was making its way into his mind.

* * *

The prison was dim, but warm and clean, nicer and with more amenities than Zuko had ever been given during his time behind bars. Prisoner after prisoner sat hunched in their cells, soldiers from the day before that had been stranded and forced to surrender. They stared back at him with less than glad tidings.

One particular cell made him stop. A shadow cast over the man, who sat stooped at the floor of his cell. He'd only been there a day, but he'd grown disheveled, with eyes glinting craze. Defeat hit him worse than imprisonment ever could.

"What are you doing here?" Zhao growled.

"Making sure all the prisoners are treated well. More than you ever did for me," Zuko muttered.

"You came here to mock me," his eyes were fiery, "Go ahead and try. You might've won today but you're still a pathetic traitor in my eyes. The entire nation knows it."

"You're the one who sent your soldiers into a deathtrap. You're the one who tried to kill the moon spirit. And you call me the traitor?"

Zhao sneered. "You'd never understand."

"No. I don't think I will."

A frown twiched on the admiral's lips, before he plastered on another cruel grin.

"What do you plan on doing now? Twisting that knife you stuck in your nation's back? Will you join the Avatar? Will you skip around the Earth Kingdom on that sky bison? Will you teach the Avatar your pathetic excuse for firebending?"

Zhao meant it all in mockery, but Zuko leaned towards the bars and said, "Yes. I think I will."

Zhao might've tried to hide it, but his eyes had gone wide for a second, not expecting that answer, or the surety he'd answered with. Desperate, he was desperate to keep his hold over him, even from behind bars.

"You  _traitor._ You'll never make it. You'll never go home. No matter what you do now, they'll never let you back!" Zhao cackled."You're  _trapped."_

Zuko looked down at him almost piteously.

"You're the one in a cell, Zhao," he said, "I'm  _free_."

The certainty in his voice rung like a bell. Nothing left to say, Zuko turned and walked back out into the winter light, which seemed warmer than ever before. Zhao had stopped laughing. Despite all the chains and cells and arrows and scars, Zuko was finally free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: And so ends this humble story.
> 
> Self reflection time!
> 
> I started this story because I wanted to try some new things with writing. For once, I actually wrote an outline that went all the way through the entire story. During the actual writing, I challenged myself to just sit down for half an hour and write, almost non-stop, with no skipping parts (though I broke that challenge in the last chapters). This was completely alien to my old way of writing, which is usually writing dialogue and important parts first, bouncing around, and mulling over every sentence.
> 
> So, end result, I found it pretty fun. Personally, I found some of the chapters sub-par for my standards. The flow was a little bumpier and I found emotions coming out less subtle than I would've liked. However, it was nice to have a bit more slack with my writing for once. I am content. I also got to hear from so many of you, and I'm just happy you liked the story! Thank you all! I'm sorry if you expected more, but ending the story here has always been the plan. I'm not leaving this site anytime soon, though, so watch out for anything new from me!
> 
> -Mano :D

**Author's Note:**

> About time I introduce this fic to the denizens of ao3. The version on FFN is a few chapters ahead, I was testing if the idea would come to fruition and it has, so now here it is for your viewing pleasure.
> 
> Next up: The Rescue  
> In which Zuko tries to faint a little bit less, decides to give up, and the world doesn't let him.


End file.
